Soft edge construction



Jan. 1, 1946. T, MAYER 2,392,254-

SOFT-EDGE CONSTRUCTION Filed NOV. 4, 1940 INVENTOR A0212? 7. 272 621 T RNEYS'.

Patented Jan. 1, 1946.

sor'r EDGE CONSTRUCTION Louis 'r. Mayer, Detroit, Mich., assignor to No- Sag Spring notation of Michiga Compan y, Detroit, Mich., a cor- Application November 4, 1940, Serial No. 364,108

2 Claims.

My invention relates to spring construction and particularly to a spring construction which provides a soft front edge to a cushion.

The invention embodies a base spanned by spring strips of sinuous form, which is made of wire bent in zigzag formation and rolled on an arc of small diameter. The spring strips herein illustrated, are similar to that described in the Karl Kaden reissue application, No. 21,263, issued November 14, 1939.

The ends of th spring are extended and secured to opposite elements of a frame, to form a surface on a predetermined arc. The inherent seat provided in the spring when rolled on a small arc provide resistance against downward deflection when mounted on the base, so that the springs return to the original form when the load is removed. The construction herein illustrated ha hard edges where the spring stocks are Joined to the frame, and my invention embodies the application of a new and novel structure to the spring strips for producing a soft edge along one or both sides of the spring frame structure.

The element forming the soft edge embodie a wire bent in sinuous form having the inner convolution reversely bent to form hooks, which form anchoring means with the spring strips.

The outward projecting convolutions are disposed between the spring strips and are formed upwardly to extend over the element of the frame to which the ends of the sinuous spring strips are secured. The end wires of the soft edge forming strip are formed into jack springs having their ends anchored to the base frame, This provides support for the end convolutions of the strip to prevent the sagging of the ends. When material resiliency atthe front edge is required, the upward and outward convolutions are left free and when less resiliency is desired all the convolutions may be joined together by a border wire to have the deflection of any one of the convolutions affect a plurality thereof.

Accordingly, the main objects of my invention are to provide a sinuous element formed of wire I having reversely bent portions at the ends of the convolution aligned with spring strips and forming attaching means therefore; to bend a wire in sinuous form having one end of the convolutions anchored to spring strips, while the other end 1 projects forwardly and upwardly to form a soft front edge; to form a spring surface from spring strips, and provide a soft front edge thereto by a sinuous strip having each convolution aligned with and secured to a spring strip with the opposite convolutions extending forwardly and above of the structure illustrated in Fig. 1

the frame; to form convolutions from a wire of pre-determined shape with the ends of the wire shaped into jack springs parallel to said convolutions; to form a seat frame from a plurality of sinuous springs and a sinuous wire strip having the inner convolutions reversely bent to form anchoring means with the ends of the wire shaped into jack springs, which are attached to the frame and with the upwardly and frontwardly extending convolutions joined together by a border wire; and ingeneral to provide a soft front edge for a surface, which is simple in construction, positive in attachment, and economical in manufacture.

Other objects and features of novel of my invention will be specifically pointed out or will become apparent when referring to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is a broken perspective view of a seat frame supporting a sinuous spring and a soft front edge construction embodying features of my invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the structure illustrated in Fig. 1, taken on the line 2-2 thereof and,

Fig. 3 is an enlarged broken view of a portion within the circle designated by numeral 3.

In the figures, I have illustrated a base frame made of wood, having a front element l0 and a rear element ll disposed parallel to each other and joined at the ends by members l2. Although the frame herein illustrated is made of wood, it is understood that metal or other material may be utilized in the frame structure.

Sinuous spring strips I3 are stretched across the elements Ill and H and secured in position'by suitable clips I4. It has been pointed out hereinabove, that either frame elements l0 and II may be provided with a soft edge when the frame is employed as a spring for a bed, a couch, an ottoman and the like. In the construction illustrated in the figures, I have shown the soft edge structure employed on the front edge of a davenport or chair, but it is understood that I do not wish to be limited to the application of the soft edge to the front edge of a seat structure.

The soft edge structure l5 comprises a wire bent in zig-zag formation to provide frontwardly open convolutions l6, which are of less width than the spring strips l3 with which they are aligned and anchored. Each of the frontwardly open convolutions I6 is joined at the front by a web portion II. which provides a rearwardly open convolution between adjacent pairs of the spring frame by a clip it. Each convolution It has its end reversely bent, as illustrated at 23, and deflected downwardly to form a hook 2i which projects over one of the laterally extending portions of the spring strip l3.

As illustrated in Fig. 3, it is only necessary to hook the end 23 over the laterally extending portion 25 of a spring strip and insert the hook 24 over the adjacent laterally projecting convolution 28 of the spring strip to rigidly anchor the soft front edge structure l5 to a. series of the spring strips.

The convolutions extend upwardly from the spring strips, as illustrated more clearly in Fig. 2, to have the end web portions l1 disposed above and over the frame element it). While in certain instances it may be advantageous to leavethe edge. When the border wire is Joined to the projectin'g convolutions a more rigid edge is proweb portions l1 free, so that they may be individually deflected, in most constructions it is desirable to connect the web portions l'l together with a flexible border wire 21 secured by hog rings 28, or other means. In most cases the ends of the wire 21 are bent around the end convo1u-,

tion l8 where it'jointswith the arm |9of the jack spring 2|.

The sinuously formed unit element comprising the soft edge structure has each convolution aligned with and attached to a sinuous spring strip by the reversely bent loop at the'inner end of each convolution. The projecting convolutions extend upwardly and outwardly from the spring strips over the frame and padding and trim material is disposed thereover in the usual manner. The spring strips form the support for the load while the sinuously formed element provides material resiliency when forming thesoft vided and the weight of the load is distributed over several convclutions. When the border wire is omitted a much more resilient edge is obtained and those convolutions only are affected which are directly contacted by an occupant. The ends of the soft front edge element are supported by jack springs -which are preferably a unit part of the element, although it is to be understood that these may be separate elements or formed on the border wire which is joined to the projecting convolutions.

While I have described and illustrated but a single embodiment of my invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes, omissions, additions and substitutions may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, as set forth in the accompanying claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a cushion construction, a base frame, sinuous spring strips spanning said frame, an integral wire member having aligned front portions and rearwardly extending portions terminating in loops with each rearwardly extending portion and loop aligned with one of said spring strips and secured thereto over and under portions of each spring strip.

2. In a cushion construction, a base frame, sinuous spring strips made of wire bent back and forth in substantially parallel relation spanning said frame, an integral wire member having aligned front portions and rearwardly extending portions terminating in loops with each loop aligned with-said spring strips, said loops being reversely bent and hooked under and over adjacent spacedvparallel portions of the spring strips.

LOUIS T. MAYER. 

